"In the city of Mahatma Gandhi and non-violence, how can anyone celebrate a person like Hitler who is known to have murdered millions of unarmed ordinary civilians?" said Friends of Israel member Nikitin Contractor.

But co-owner Rajesh Shah says he was caught off-guard by the backlash, particularly since no one complained when they put up a banner announcing "Hitler opening shortly" and kept it up for over a month.

As for the name, Shah again pleads ignorance, telling the Times of India the store was named after his business partner's grandfather who was nicknamed Hitler "because of his strict nature."

He continued: "Frankly, till the time we applied for the trademark permission, I had only heard that Hitler was a strict man. It was only recently that we read about Hitler on the internet."